1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to plate separators for fluid mixtures, and more particularly to a separator adapted for separating an oil/water mixture contaminated with solids, such as sand or dirt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,847,813 and 3,957,656, assigned to the same assignee as the assignee of the present invention, there is disclosed a system for eliminating oil from water using a stack of horizontally aligned corrugated plates. However, inasmuch as many oil/water mixtures contain solids, such as dirt or sand therein, the horizontally aligned plates provide no means for removing the solid materials while the system is operational. Thus these solids collect between the plates and frequently clog the system. This results in the need for a regular maintenance cycle, whereby the system must be shut down in order to clean and remove the solid matter from the stack of plates.